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2025 / 01De Roca Madre

Type
Ephemeral Architecture
InstitutionFestival de Arquitectura Urbana, TAC!
Ministerio de Vivienda y Agenda Urbana, Gobierno de España
Ayto. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Fundación Arquia

Art DirectorJavier Peña (TAC!)

City Architecture DepartmentHéctor Martínez (Ayuntamiento de Las Palmas, Urban Design)

Structural AnalyticsHugo Ventura (Huca Arquitectura)

ConstructionAaron Martín (MadrelaguaAceinsa) - Steel, stone, construction-site logistics.
Vanesa Muñoz (Carpinterías Muñoz) - Timber structure and joinery.
Claudio G. Roque (Mining) - Reused-stone extraction.
Miguel Carrasco + Loreto Felipe (PreciousPlastics) -Beach-cleaning coord.
Sara Alemán - Site coordination.
Antonio Yapci Navarro - Site health & safety.

CreditsDrawings @Estudio Latente
Press photography @María Rodríguez Cadenas

Year2025

StatusBuilt

What is the purpose of building an architectural pavilion in 2025? How can a temporary object connect with the citizens of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria? The De Roca Madre pavilion, which was the result of a national open design competition, assumes a dual condition through a historical and activist lens. First, it looks to the past, to the Canary Islands’ traditional stone-and-wood construction, drawing on the island’s geological and natural materials. Second, De Roca Madre opens a conversation about the current problem of microplastics along the island’s coasts, largely carried from other parts of the world by ocean currents.

Our project proposes a geological and Anthropocene section. Two gabion walls made of wood and wire mesh are built along the square’s north–south axis to reflect the island’s construction history across its geological periods (Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Holocene) and the transformation caused by human activity over the last century. The project is constructed with wooden slats measuring 20 by 10 centimeters in section and a metal mesh that contains stone in the lower layers of the wall and holds plastics in the upper parts. Three types of local stone are used: Arucas blue stone (basalt, in the base), Arucas grey stone (mid-level), and volcanic picón rojo in the upper part. For the placement of plastics, we use objects found and recycled on the island in collaboration with Precious Plastics Gran Canaria, a local collective that advocates awareness of plastic pollution—especially microplastics—through collection and reuse activities.

The project’s spatial conditions foster a relationship between visitors and the history and ecology of Gran Canaria. The two gabion walls incorporate benches, doors for crossing, and viewing apertures that respond to the circulation of Plaza de Stagno, the Pérez Galdós Theatre, and the nearby bus stop. In addition, the walls are connected by a lattice of wood and stone, built with the same structural logic, offering a place to sit and converse, sheltered from the sun and nearby noise. De Roca Madre also dampens noise from the Teatro bus terminal, becoming a buffer for Plaza de Stagno. In the square and around the wall, many activities will be held—such as lectures, local design events, contemporary dancing, and assemblies—expanding the cultural footprint of the Island of Gran Canaria.

De Roca Madre invites reflection on the impact of time in Gran Canaria and on the relationship between geology and human impact across the island’s layered ground.

Drawings @EstudioLatente